


The Prisoner of Malbonia

by Northland



Category: Macdonald Hall - Gordon Korman
Genre: Gen, Malbonia, Yuletide Treat, camel spit
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-12-24
Updated: 2007-12-24
Packaged: 2018-01-25 01:49:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1625126
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Northland/pseuds/Northland
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Detective Myers: So you didn't intentionally release the camel?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Prisoner of Malbonia

**Author's Note:**

> A short Yuletide Treat for Olivia Circe

"Melvin!"

Boots rolled over and burrowed deeper into his pillow. "George, how many times do I have to tell you, quit calling me Melvin," he mumbled.

George Wexford-Smyth III, as usual, ignored this and went on shouting from the hallway. "Melvin! Your vulgar friend is on the phone."

"Oh." Boots pushed himself up on one elbow and looked blearily around the room for his cell. "Where's my phone?"

"In the bathroom, where you left it after a night of drinking," George informed him. "Both very unsanitary habits I wish you would break." He pushed Boots' door open with one finger and picked his way through piles of crumpled clothes, wrinkling his nose. In one rubber-gloved hand he held out Boots' cellphone by a corner.

Boots sat up, yawned, scratched his armpits just to make George queasy, and took the phone. "Get out," he mouthed.

Bruno's voice was already drilling into his ear. "--taking you so long? Are you and George tangled up in some kind of kinky S & M game, and if so can I play?"

"Shut up, Bruno," Boots said automatically. " Can you imagine how George'd react to bondage gear? He'd insist on sterilizing it three times before each use."

"Right, right. I forgot I was talking to the roommate of the only guy to actually wear a flu mask during the SARS epidemic."

Boots covered his eyes. "Don't remind me. God, that was embarrassing."

"So where were you this morning? I didn't see you at the RAC."

Boots laughed. "I got in at three last night, Bruno. At least I think I did--I don't remember much after we left the Imperial. There's no way I was going to get up early and swim. In fact, I just woke up."

"Oh." Bruno was silent for a moment. This was so unusual that Boots took the phone away from his ear for a moment to check whether the battery was running down or he'd lost reception: no. He put the phone back to hear the last half of Bruno's question. "--see the news this morning?"

Despite the fact that Boots was enrolled in first year journalism at Ryerson, he wasn't exactly a current events maven. Bruno was in the Film Studies program; he said he only watched to critique the incredibly static, old-fashioned nature of television news.

"No, what's up?"

Bruno's voice deepened to a dramatic movie-announcer-style bass. "The Chancellor of Malbonia has been deposed!"

"The who of the what now?"

"Arturo Diaz! Francisco Diaz' father! Remember when he was the Ambassador? And then two years ago was elected Chancellor? Well, there's been a coup!"

Boots scrubbed his face with his hand, hard. Bruno was proving unusually hard to cope with this morning. He reached for the bottle of Advil on his nightstand and swallowed two, dry. "He's okay, isn't he? And Francisco?"

"They're being held prisoner in Cité de Malbon."

"God, that's awful." Boots was momentarily shaken.

"Don't worry. Bruno Walton is on the job! We're going to rally the student body and save the day."

*

[text of flyer distributed on Ryerson University campus]

**FREE DIAZ!**

**RALLY 1 PM MONDAY**

**NATHAN PHILLIPS SQUARE**

*

[excerpt from Toronto Police Service interview transcript]

52 Div. Detective Myers: So you didn't intentionally release the camel?

Melvin "Bruno" O'Neal: No! I keep telling you, the camel chewed through the rope and got loose all on its own. Can't your forensics guys, I don't know, test the end of the rope for camel spit or something?

Myers: Whose idea was it to bring the camel?

O'Neal: [long pause] Mine.

Myers: I don't believe you, Melvin. What aren't you telling me? And where did the camel come from? We need to return it to its owner.

O'Neal: Uh, I, uh, borrowed it from a friend. Her family has a petting zoo out near Stouffville. She didn't know what we were going to do with it, though.

Myers: Her name?

O'Neal: Cathy Grant.

Myers: I'll see that it gets back home. Who's the 'we' you mentioned, Melvin?

O'Neal: [no reply]

Myers: You've cost the city a lot of money, son. Camel shit doesn't come off carpet, and the council chambers are going to have to be fumigated. Think about that for a minute while I go get a coffee.

O'Neal: Can I call a lawyer?

*

[bill from the legal firm Dentz Barr-Ringe & Howe, addressed to George Wexford-Smyth II]

  * 3 hours, legal representation, George Wexford-Smyth III
  * Ditto, Melvin O'Neal
  * 5 hours, research into livestock bylaws of Toronto



[post-it note with hand-written note attached: _Georgie, I'm sure we can plea-bargain this down to community service. See you at the lake, Nigel_ ]

*

[transcript of CBC's _The National_ ]

PETER MANSBRIDGE: The Chancellor of Malbonia and his family were released from detention this morning [pan over cheering crowd] after more than a week of nationwide protests, spearheaded by a mysterious figure calling himself 'Commandante Fish', [zoom in on short, dark-haired figure in large sunglasses and bandanna pulled over his mouth & chin] apparently a Canadian citizen. In a speech, the Chancellor thanked the people of Canada and declared his intention to make a diplomatic visit soon...


End file.
